When Congress passed the $105 billion Surface Transportation Extension Act in June, its first major transportation bill since 2005, it secured funding for the Highway Trust Fund, the critical key funding source that reimburses states for spending on roads, bridges, mass transit and other transportation projects. That measure was essential to pay for hundreds if not thousands of badly needed infrastructure improvements.

But, the bill ensures that highway and transportation funding remains at its current level only through the end of fiscal year 2014. Was it worth the effort?

Many news organizations logically suggested that Congress needs to pass long-term legislation that does one of the following: A) raises the federal gasoline tax (18.4 cents per gallon) that hasn’t been increased since 1993; B) transfers money from the government’s general fund into the Highway Trust Fund; or C) finds a new revenue source that lets transportation projects materialize in a timely manner.

With the current U.S. budget deficit at $1.2 trillion, it’s unlikely that the ‘general fund’ will be able to make up for the Highway Trust Fund’s perennial shortfalls as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says it expects a $10 billion deficit this year. The Highway Trust Fund probably isn’t something we should place much trust in, come to think of it. Business Week’s Carol Wolf reports that it’s approached insolvency three times since 2008 and since 2001 it has spent more money than it has taken in every single year except for 2006. Regular folks can’t do that, but if they did, trust would be hard to find.

The Trust Fund’s big problem is that U.S. fuel consumption is declining and that decline is accelerating due to more fuel efficient vehicles. Part of the blame rests with the way the federal gas tax that feeds it is collected. It’s a fixed amount, not a percentage that rises and falls with the price of gasoline.

And if new federal mandates for Corporate Averge Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) remain in place, the Highway Trust Fund’s revenue level stands to lose another $57 billion by 2022 according to the CBO. The proposed CAFE standards are popular with environmentalists and loathsome to many who believe the free-market system should determine what kind of cars and trucks auto manufacturers produce and what kind of food and drink restaurants serve… not government.

Ironically, it’s the government’s own bean counters, specifically, the CBO that says the proposed CAFÉ standards will cause gasoline tax revenue to fall by $57 billion between 2012 through 2022. It recommends a federal gas tax increase of 5 cents per gallon to offset the $57 billion loss.

CAFÉ standards might work best for everyone if they’re imposed voluntarily by manufacturers responding to consumer needs. When mandated by government they’re simply another form of taxation and we know who ultimately bears the brunt of it. Something’s got to give.

Actually Honda...personal federal taxes are much lower.... but because the GOP has pushed for the businesses to get away with virtually no taxes, the impact has cause financial hardship that has been shunted to the state, county and local levels and even brought an increase in "fees" (what the GOP used to call taxes before they changed their minds).....

On paper, the corporate tax is about 35 percent. The REAL effective rate for businesses is less than the rate Romney claimed he paid last year.

The US economy boomed decades ago when America had a multi-legged tax system supporting it..... Now, the business legs have virtually disappeared compared to past levels.

funny how everyone whines about taxes. It's not the taxes (which are the lowest in a long time for most people), but it's how the taxes are spent that creates such a big hole in the Beltway (and other) coffers.

CAFE and it's fleetwide standards were always the wrong approach. A much more sensible approach would be to evaluate individual car models, and heavily tax those models that exceed desired MPG thresholds.

But instead of a visible tax that consumers can see, we get an invisible tax on car companies. In the end, consumers pay the tax, either way. But consumers are not incented to change their behavior.

Presumably, no one would call President George W. Bush unfriendly to the oil industry. Yet the price of gasoline rose steadily during most of his administration. In February 2001, just after Mr. Bush took office, the average price of regular gasoline was $1.45 a gallon. By June 2008, that price had risen to $4.05. Still think presidents and oil-friendly policies can determine oil prices?

It’s true that by the end of the Bush presidency, prices had fallen back to $1.69, as oil prices plummeted with the rest of the global economy. But I think we can all agree that a global financial crisis is too high a price to pay for cheap gasoline.

Before obama gas was at$1.68,obama wants gas at $5-6 a gal,he stopped the pipe line ,held up drilling permits in the gulf ,wasted tax money on green technology,gave tax payer money to Brazil to drill and told them the USA would be one of there best customers,this CLOWN has to go.

We must look at the rationale given for imposing any tax, then be watchful that this is the only use of the funds raised. That Fed taxes haven't been raised in x amount of years I meaningless. The tax act itself should include the mechanism for generating enough money of the intended purpose.

To get the votes most politicians like to be seen creating new roads, bridges or other infrastructure, but they don,t want to make sure the funding will always be there to keep up that same infrastructure. It just doesn't get them the publicity they crave.

Not in a Congressman best interest. As a Congressman / woman, it is your business to bring home the Bacon each and Every year so you can be seen as making progress for your State or Area and thus get Re-Elected. Remember, the first duty of every Congressman is to Get Re Elected, PERIOD.

Now is not the time to ease off the the CAFE standards. Now is the time to reform the taxes that pay for the roads. The truckers do not pay their fair share of road wear and tear. It has been estimated that heavy trucks can cause up to 10,000 times as much wear as a passenger car. Trucks only pay about 3-4 times as much as cars.

decreasing the rate of taxes during fuel spikes and increasing the taxes on dropping costs is one way of helping stabilize fuel prices and it may have some merit. Tolls may be another way of dealing with the problem also. Users must pay but cars pay too much and trucks do not pay enough. Maybe we all need to pay according to weight and miles traveled.